CADMUS01

Foxes in the Henhouse
            Or

"Where Have All  The Treasures Gone?"

by Richard Cadmus MPS

During the course of my 32 years as a
Master Mason, I have visited a couple
hundred lodges in this and other jurisdic-
tions. On every visitation, I make it a
point to peruse the lodges' display of
treasured memorabilia and antiquities
consisting of framed old documents, an-
cient rosters, photos of early lodge offi-
cers, portraits and paintmgs, engrav-
ings, beautiful Past Masters' rings and
jewels (many forged in gold with dia-
mond insets), certificates, commemora-
tive plates, bowls, cups and pitchers, ex-
quisite embroidered aprons brought
from foreign jurisdictions, awards, tro-
phies, proclamations, a library of price-
less masonic knowledge, silver plated
cornerstone laying trowels and ancient
kits of corn, wine and oil - ad infinitum.

Who, in particular, actually knows
what masonic treasures are stored in dis-
play cases, or, worse yet, "buried" in
attics and cellars of lodge buildings?
When the last of the "old-timers" has
passed on, who remembers - or cares?

While our gentle craft should be " getting
on" with the business of today and all of
our tomorrows, we should not allow the
artifacts of our heritage to just fade away
via thoughtless neglect, or even pilfering
from within the lodges by the "foxes in
the henhouse. "

At the time of lodge consolidations,
mergers or closings, disposition must be
made of the "treasures" of one of the
lodges. Does the surviving lodge want
the other lodge's memorabilia? If they
want some, but not all, of it - where does
the rest end up? Does anyone know or
care - does the Grand Lodge of that
jurisdiction have any obligation in seeing
that the memorabilia isn't purloined or
thoughtlessly discarded? From personal
observation, on two occasions, I have
witnessed some of the most outrageous
abuses of "appropriation" that can be
imagined. One lodge was modernizing
their lounge - in which the memorabilia
display case stood. It was to be elimi-
nated as an eyesore of "junk" that no
one even remembered from whence it
came. The fact is that it was not junk, but
quite a collection of old time fine china
depicting anniversaries, etc.To my utter
dismay, I heard two Past Masters " divid-
ing up" many of the items between
themselves. "Charlie, I'll take the silver
trowel and you can have the Bicentennial
pitcher and plate. " On and on they
went, actually writing down "who" gets
"what" items to which they had no le-
gal, moral or masonic right. By what
privilege or prerogative did they have the
authority to distribute, to themselves,
the "treasures" of this old lodge?

In another instance, a magnificent gold
Past Masters jewel was found "buried"
in a carton located in the basement of a
lodge that was planning some work on
the crumbling foundation. Its original
owners name was lost in antiquity. When
one of the brothers asked if he could keep
the jewel, the others present said, "sure,
take it, its yours - you helped find it!"
Again, a disgraceful abuse of Masonic
propriety, We all know that the jewel
should have gone into the archives of the
lodge.

There is a suggested solution. Each
Grand Lodge should have an "Histori-
cal Artifacts Committee", made up of
astute, knowledgeable members of the
Grand Lodge Library/Museum Com-
mittee plus a present, or Past Grand His-
torian. By direction of the Grand Master,
through his District Deputies, an ap-
pointment would be made with repre-
sentatives of lodge "A" in order to care-
fully inventory every item listed earlier
in this article. Such an inventory would
consist of a quantity and quality evalua-
tion, photos taken of every item in the
inventory and a brief written description
of each item. Copies of this inventory,
with blank lines for items that might be
added after the official inventory was
taken, would be sent to that lodge, the
District Deputy (with instructions that it
be passed on to his successors) and to the
Grand Lodge Artifacts Committee.
Most lodges have an appointed Histo-
rian to whom would fall the responsibil-
ity of maintaining and monitoring this
inventory; sending in lists of additions or
deletions. Some items are "on loan" to
the lodge and occasionally must be re-
turned. In the case of deletions - an ex-
planation must be given that satisfacto-
rily answers the questions: "Why, to
whom and when." How many artifact
collections are even insured?

At the time of any building renovation,
merger, consolidation or any act that
would disturb, damage or delete items
from the collection, the Grand Lodge
Artifact Committee should be called in
to supervise any disposition of any arti-
fact. Any item that might be determined
"disposable" by the local lodge would be
assessed by the Artifact Committee to
determine if the item is worthy of being
transferred to the Grand Lodge Mu-
seum. If not, the lodge would be given
permission to dispose of the item at their
will and pleasure, and the records so
noted .

No one will ever know the extent of the
"loss" of priceless artifacts that has al-
ready occurred, but, we can surely do
something about what happens in the
future. How many museum quality
items have been appropriated, taken
home, put in the corner of the attic until
such time as the "appropriator" passes
on to his reward, at which time his un-
knowing children, or grandchildren,
gather all of "grandpa's junk", have a
garage sale where the item is sold for 75
to someone who may have no idea of its
value or significance? The purchaser
brings "it" home where the spouse re-
marks, "been to another junk sale have
you - where do you plan to put ' it? " The
item, more often than not, is relegated to
gated to the trash can - and we keep
wondering - "where have all our trea-
sures gone?"

